Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Nicky Hager: How To Decide Who Is A Terrorist?

'The Solicitor-General will shortly make a decision whether to approve terrorism charges against the Maori, peace and environmental activists arrested last month. Nicky Hager describes how the decision will be made and the factors the Solicitor-General needs to take into account.

It was only a few weeks ago, on 13 September, that the Government's long-fought "terror" case against Ahmed Zaoui was finally abandoned. For nearly five years, Police and SIS intelligence staff claimed they had decisive proof that Zaoui was a dangerous terrorist. Senior Labour Ministers repeated the terrorist claims and refused to intervene to stop the proceedings. The Solicitor-General and Crown Law Office staff fronted for the government in court case after court case as the claims against Zaoui were discredited.

Yet only a month after the case against Zaoui was dropped, New Zealand's 'counter-terrorism' bureaucrats were breaking down doors and claiming a new security threat, the Urewera "terrorists". We will see in the coming days if anyone has learned from the Zaoui fiasco.

The man who could set the latest terrorism case going is Solicitor-General David Collins. On Monday 29 October the Police presented him with their case against twelve people arrested in the 15 October police raids. If he gives consent to charge these people under the Terrorism Suppression Act, New Zealand could be locked into another long and damaging terrorism case.'